Original report

7. Recommendations

As a result of the audit of financial literacy resources currently available the following recommendations are made to address the points that arose.

1. One of the main aims of the audit of resources currently available was to identify any areas that are not adequately covered. The following areas were identified:

Looking at the resources available for teaching literacy through finance, it can be seen that there are a lot of text based resources available and the area that needs covering most is speaking and listening, especially given the importance of speaking and listening when sorting out personal finances.
Resources covering speaking and listening activities at all levels to be developed.

There are a shortage of materials/ideas for working with individuals who desperately need to acquire the skills to handle money and the Pre-entry/ Entry 1/ 2 literacy and numeracy skills needed before being able to tackle the Basic level skills of the Adult Financial Capability Framework1 which requires Entry 3 literacy and numeracy.
Practical ideas for working with learners at these levels to be produced in a format similar to that of ‘Money Counts’7.

There was no one contextualised resource available that covered the numeracy needed for personal finance. Comment was made that it would be useful to have materials in a format that can be easily updated.
Practical ideas for teaching numeracy through finance covering all areas of the Adult Financial Capability Framework, in Word format so that they can be updated and amended easily to suit different groups.

Suggestions for class activities came out top of the type of resources needed and the following topics were suggested: healthy eating, Islamic finance, gambling.
These topics could be covered at different levels to support group working.

With regard to financial literacy skills, the area of need in terms of resources are components: (h) Consumer rights, responsibilities and sources of advice and (i) Implications of finance.
Material developed to cover ‘Implications of Finance’ and ‘Consumer, Rights, Responsibilities and Sources of Advice’. These areas should be borne in mind when developing contextualised materials for teaching literacy, language and numeracy.

Many resources refer to income levels higher than that of many people who struggle with literacy, numeracy and financial skills.
Developers of new materials should use low levels of income, e.g. that received by those receiving state pension or minimum levels of benefits, in examples/case studies.

2. Topics that are important now may alter in the future and how would organisations know so that they can react in a co-ordinated way and resources shared.
The Bulletin Board of the Financial Literacy website – www.money-bsa.org.uk should be used to draw attention to any new financial literacy resources and any areas of concern. Threads should be set up on the Bulletin Board, relating to the resources in the questionnaire, so that comments on how the resources have been used and their usefulness can be shared.

3. People need to see the link between everyday financial tasks and the underpinning literacy and numeracy skills if they are to be encouraged to work on their literacy and numeracy skills in context.
A leaflet should be produced - like the Survival Skills in the Workplace series - showing the everyday financial literacy tasks and listing the literacy, language and numeracy skills needed to underpin the tasks

4. Comments have been made both during training and the audit that it is difficult to attract people to classes on financial literacy.
Marketing materials and/or suggestions for marketing financial literacy courses developed and shared.

Caryn Loftus
Basic Skills Consultant
August 2004


Previous page | Back to homepage | Main Index


Home | Back to top